ALBANY, NY--(Marketwired - Oct 21, 2014) - FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating in Upstate New York and Northern New England, announced today that ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, an award-winning LEED-certified facility in Burlington, VT, has chosen FirstLight's Internet service to support the company's growing network infrastructure needs.

As a non-profit aquarium and science center accommodating up to 150,000 visitors each year and host for a variety of events including corporate gatherings, weddings, and camps for children, ECHO required a communications provider that could offer scalable, reliable Internet connectivity. With FirstLight's Internet service, ECHO is able to request quick turn-up of its bandwidth as needed to accommodate its high volume of guests and hosted events.

"The fact that FirstLight's fiber network was already connected to us, and that the company has a solid reputation of excellent service made this an easy decision to select them as our technology partner," commented Travis Cook, Information Technology Coordinator for ECHO. "With FirstLight, we have more bandwidth, better service and superior reliability -- all for a cost that fits within our budget. Here at ECHO, we require the best for our guests, and rely on our Internet connection for many reasons including enabling our facilities and animal care staff to monitor the health and safety of our animals, and hosting a number of websites internally that interact with our rotating exhibits."

FirstLight's Internet service is provided via FirstLight's robust regional network and delivered to customers via its own fiber optic backbone. The service is backed by a combination of Tier 1 provider connections and hundreds of private peering connections throughout the Northeast, reducing hop counts and improving overall user experience.

"ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center is a truly remarkable organization empowering our community through science education and conservationism. We are honored to be its chosen provider for high-performance Internet services," commented Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO of FirstLight.

FirstLight Fiber headquartered in Albany, NY, provides fiber optic data, Internet, colocation and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers in Upstate New York and Northern New England with connectivity to Canada utilizing its own fiber optic network, which spans over 190,000 fiber miles connecting in excess of 1,500 lit locations. FirstLight offers a robust suite of advanced telecommunications products, including dedicated Internet access, Ethernet, traditional TDM solutions, SIP trunks, virtual PBX and audio-conferencing, managed commercial wireless systems, and Data Center Colocation. FirstLight's clientele includes national cellular providers and CLECs and many leading enterprises, spanning high tech manufacturing and research, hospitals and healthcare, banking and financial, secondary education, colleges and universities, and local and state governments. FirstLight is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm Riverside Partners.